An artist's impression of what the new Casement Park might look like.
By John Harrington
Antrim hurling captain, Eoghan Campbell, believes redeveloping Casement Park will be a big boost for hurling in the county.
On Tuesday a legal challenge against a decision to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the stadium was dismissed which has cleared the way for work to begin on building a new a 34,000 capacity stadium.
“It was a big, big hurdle to get over,” says Campbell. “It’s fantastic. Hopefully we can push forward with the tender and get the grounds crew in there to start ripping it up. People have said Casement Park isn’t going to be the golden ticket for Antrim or Ulster hurling – and it’s not.
“But it’s a massive, massive stepping stone towards getting a proper stadium within Ulster and Belfast city.
“It’s something we have targeted with Gaelfast. For young kids to know they have a chance to play in a state-of-the-art stadium is massive.”
Eoghan Campbell of Antrim during the Joe McDonagh Cup Final media event at Croke Park in Dublin.
Campbell has been playing for Antrim since 2013 but never had the opportunity to play a senior match in Casement Park which shut shortly after he joined the county panel.
“I played there in some underage tournaments,” he said. “Never got to play there at senior.
“I got called up to the extended panel the last year they trained there – it got shut the next year.
“First night under Kevin Ryan I was called in, I think they were short for a challenge game. I got called in on a Thursday night, under the blistering sun, the sun was setting over Casement Park – it was probably one of the best training sessions with that setting and with that surface.
“We moved a lot about after that. Having a permanent home in Corrigan, that’s really stood to us. Not having that for those years was detrimental to us. It will be great to get back in and have a home like that.”
